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A Texas lawmaker thinks it may be time for Texas to set up its own prison in Mexico. After all, he figures, the inmates would be closer to home and they're going to be deported anyway when their sentences are complete, so the move would save taxpayers money. "The plusses are that it's a heck of a lot less expensive to build and staff prisons down there," Sen. Craig Estes said. "They would be Texas quality and they'd roughly cost about half." A hidden side benefit? "I would hope some people might look at it as economic development in some areas of Mexico that desperately need it," he said. Click here for the full story.

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Unlikely, as the Texas Constitution forbids it as does federal legislation and treaties with Mexico. Lots of good analysis at Grits for Breakfast (http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2007/01/somebody-please-get-sen-estes-copy-of.html).

Texas has a long and humiliating history of our legislators proposing legislation that flies in the face of common sense and the Constitution, even the US Constitution. This session saw a state legislator from East Texas propose a law denying US citizenship to children of illegal immigrants. Evidently the Fourteenth Amendment wasn't covered in his own civics courses.

Actually, Kyle, the intent of the writers of the 14th Amendment is well known from their writings, and it was never their intention to bequeath citizenship to the children of foreign nationals as a birthright. The Supreme Court in their usurpation of the legislative powers of the Congress made it so. One can never tell what the current, more conservative and historically savvy Court will do in a challenge to this principle, so Texas may not be as ignorant as you think. Overturning this provision would certainly earn them a place in the annals of the history of the Court.

Posted by: Horace | Feb 9, 2007 8:40:26 AM

"Query what "Texas quality" is when it comes to prisons."

A Texas Quality prison is one in which even an immigration lawyer would be proud to take up residence. Also, good enough for Tom DeLay to certify as 5 star.

Posted by: George | Feb 9, 2007 10:21:06 AM

Yes, immigration and the 14th Amendment are becoming so hot these days that I can see amicus curiae briefs filed by a coalition of states, consisting of Texas, Georgia and perhaps New Mexico. Birthright citizenship and education of illegal aliens will likely receive strong challenges. The current Supreme Court may be amenable to hearing these issues. The requirement for states to pay for K-12 education for illegal aliens is particularly vulnerable, as it can't pass the common sense smell test.